The Hofstra baseball team took home a road victory against Elon University on Sunday, March 27, defeating the Phoenix 15-5 to seal the series victory over a conference rival.
The Pride’s overall record improved to 10-8 and 2-1 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play with the win.
The Pride came out of the gates hot by scoring three runs in the first inning. A double down the right field line by Kevin Bruggeman drove in Santino Rosso and Jake Liberatore for a 2-0 lead. Nick Marrero then came home for the Pride on a groundout to shortstop, making the score 3-0. Elon answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the second to cut the deficit to three before Hofstra tacked on to its lead in the second inning with one more run to take a 4-0 lead.
Ryan Morash then broke the game wide open for Hofstra with a two-run home run to left-center field, making it a 6-1 ball game. Hofstra continued to dominate with three more runs in the fifth inning. Morash hit an RBI single, bringing home Bruggeman for the score. Matt Pelcher singled to right field, driving home Anthony D’Onofrio and Steve Harrington for a 9-1 advantage.
In the sixth inning, Elon chipped its way into the game with two runs and continued to fight in the seventh inning with two more runs to make it 9-5. Hofstra pulled the game out of Elon’s reach in the eighth inning with six runs. Marrero reached home on a throwing error, pushing the score to 11-5. Two doubles from D’Onofrio and Harrington extended the lead to 14-5. Pelcher closed out the inning with a single to third base to go up 15-5.
Brad Camarda pitched 5.2 innings and struck out six batters to earn his fourth win of the season for the Pride. Aljo Sujak came in for a short period of time until Michael O’Hanlon closed out the game with 2.2 innings pitched. The Pride had four different players with multiple hits, as Pelcher led the way with four hits in five at-bats. Morash added three hits and two runs scored.
Hofstra travels to rival Long Island University on Tuesday, March 29. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics.
